Fragrance Notes ISSUE 1, 2018 - Page 22

FEATURE
Paul’s children: Freya, Nicolas, and Joel
“I can’t even eat a bowl
of cereal with just one
kind. It always has to be a
combination. Same with
fragrance. I want to play
with my perfumer’s mind
sometimes, customizing
cereals and fragrances.”
in-between,” he says. When he was young, he used to stay up
late on Sunday evenings to record the Top 20 onto cassette tapes,
and today he finds he is always listening to something, even while
working. “I feel like I’m less productive without music,” he says.
And while he notes that he cannot play a single sheet of music,
he says he has a database in his head of the greatest bands of all
time: Oasis, Blur, Queen, Prince, and The Smiths.
Both his music and his fragrance preferences are often dictated
by his mood. “I know my limit for stress when I stop listening
to my music,” he says. “That’s my breaking point, when I have
to recalibrate... I’ll stop being sensitized to things.” He admits to
liking natural smells—big blocks of wood, anything earthy. As
is clear from his taste in music, he likes a little bit of everything
blended together. “I can’t even eat a bowl of cereal with just one
22
FRAGRANCE NOTES ISSUE 1, 2018
Paul’s daughter Freya, who is a very talented
dancer, has a wonderful social media presence.
Follow her on Instagram and Musical.ly
at freyaireland.
kind. It always has to be a combination. Same with fragrance. I want
to play with my perfumer’s mind sometimes, customizing cereals
and fragrances.”
He also expressed deep appreciation for travel, which he
does frequently for work and for pleasure. He has a special
affinity for the desolation of Iceland; his visit to Reykjavik
completely blew him away. He says he enjoys being in the hills,
on the moors, “which is weird because I like to surround myself
with people but can still appreciate an open sky.” He also loves
“the Scandinavian vibe,” the Greek islands, and the Amalfi coast.
An Example to Follow
“You work all your life for your family; now, you’re
working for 3,000 families.”
One of the more memorable pieces of advice he’s received was
from one of his mentors, his purchasing director at the time, who
told him during a big negotiation, “We’re not building airplanes
that are going to fall out of the sky.” His mentor was someone who
didn’t say much, but when he did say something, he made it count.
He taught Ireland to work hard but never take things too seriously.
“When we work too hard or are unhappy, we are less productive,
so it’s a negative cycle,” he says. “I even even teach this to my kids,
telling them, ‘Whatever decision you make is okay.’”
“When we negotiate, it gets personal, so I try not to be
emotional in that sense. It is always important to put things into